Her Eyes
by unbornagain
Summary: Zuko has Katara captive on his ship - they fight when she's awake but what does he discover when she's sleeping? A Zutara fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

Hello fanfiction this is my first story ever so…be nice assholes =]

Disclaimer: If I owned avatar I would not be writing this, Zuko would be in me. Also if the information/timeline isn't perfect please be nice it's only for the sake of the story.

Authors Note: Everything in italics is a flash forward- the story goes from the present to the future. Just to specify. It starts after the end of season 2 when the gaang is on the stolen fire nation ship. To make the characters more believable in my version of the story I made Zuko 18, Katara 17, Aang 16, and Sokka 19. Any other changes I'll let you know as we go.

Peace and Love to you all

_Katara had never experienced lust. Jet had been a crush, a schoolgirl fancy when she was young and unexposed to men. And sure she had indulged herself in playing with Aangs heartstrings, although the boy hardly counted. A quick peck was nothing compaired to what she was experiencing now. If only her hands were freed from over her head she would be able to decide if she should backhand the bastard or pull him closer. She blushed. Katara didn't know if the man could get any closer. She could feel his chest pushed hard against hers, one of his hands resting next to her head and the other pinning her arms above her. His shaggy hair fell in front of his eyes, shielding his face from view. As he spoke then, his breath fanned out, a relief to the heat in the boiler room as it cooled the beads of sweat rolling down her neck. _

"_You know," he whispered, leaning in to her ear and brushing her hair away from her neck, "when you blush it reaches all the way down your chest. I'll have to remember to make that happen more often."_

_Katara started, offset by how forward he was. The thin layer of his silk shirt suddenly seemed to lay heavy on her damp skin. This boy was not supposed to do this to her, he was not supposed to drive her to distraction the way he was. If anything in this sort of situation it should be her trying to seduce her way out of captivity. Instead he was actually making her consider throwing out all the plans she had to escape and instead give in and fall to the desires of his touch. _

_As she struggled to pull her hands from his grip, Katara tilted her head back to avoid the featherlike travels of his lips across her skin. Closing her eyes to try to gain some sense of self control and capability to reason about what to say to the boy, she opened her mouth to tell him to release her, and instead had to catch her breath when he pressed a soft kiss to the side of her neck. _

"_Stop." She murmured to him, struggling not to let the desire show in her voice. He simply looked up at her, with those golden eyes filled with amusement at her weak protest and slowly began to trail his kisses along her neck. "Stop…please" she whimpered again and again, the boy not listening as he continued. Summoning her courage, Katara began to thrash about in his arms, struggling to free herself. He simply stood there. Watching her._

"_Zuko! What the hell do you want, why the fuck won't you let me go! Let me go!" she sobbed, sinking to the floor as he slowly released his grip on her wrists. Zuko watched as the girl slid to the floor, curling in on herself and covering her tear streaked face with her hands. He never had realized how frail, how small the girl was. She was so young…_

"_You know why I can't let you go girl," as bitterly as he could, he tried to mask his hurt at being rejected, "I need you to find your stupid fucking friend. You can't leave until I have him. I already told you if you want to leave so bad help me set a trap for him. I'd be happy to let you go."_

_He lied. And he knew it. He would never let the girl go. Even when he had the avatar. Nobody had to know. He had grown up knowing that his father had many women living in his chambers, without his wife knowing. Why should Katara be any different. He would have her. There was nothing she could do to escape him._

* * *

Katara bended more drops of water out of the tiny flask. She would use every drop she could if that meant she could come one step closer to saving Aang. She looked over at Sokka, planning for a battle with men twice his age. And Aang. Laying in her arms, just a kid, so close to death yet again. It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. They were so young, so new to the world and yet they had to do all that one hundred years of fighting could not. Katara stood, gently laying Aang down and made her way to the side of the stolen fire nation ship. The water was the only thing that made her happy now. Without it so near she would surely snap. She spread her arms and leaned against the railing, pretending that she could simply float down into the water and just swim, swim forever.

A sudden force smacked her against the railing, her head hitting it with such force she cried out as she felt blood start to pool on the side of her head. She began to feel weakness spread through her limbs as the blow began to pull her into darkness. In the background of her hazy mind Katara heard more cannons being fired, more explosions on the ship. She could hear Sokka screaming for the others to save Aang, to make sure he was safe, to get him below deck and guarded. She smiled. She was so proud of her brother. So proud..

Katara smiled as she fell into the water, and unconsciousness slowly overtook her body as she floated away from the ship..

* * *

Zuko smiled. Standing on the bow of the ship he knew that his time was coming. The Avatar was dead, and soon his stupid little rebellion would be squashed as well. He was not in a hurry to catch the ship as it sped of into the distance, they would have to dock somewhere soon enough to repair the damage that the brief attack had caused. Life would be good.

As soon as Zuko and Azula had learned of a stolen fire nation ship sailing near them, Zuko immediately volunteered to take a warship in pursuit of the Avatar loving idiots. He smirked. He knew that without their lifeline, their precious Avatar the force would begin to fall apart and become easier and easier to pick off.

A soldier slowly approached from behind him, trying not to disturb the peace of the young prince. He jumped as the prince addressed him with his back turned.

"Yes soldier? What do you want." The soldier shivered. Maybe the rumor about the Prince having eyes at the back of his head was true…

"Prince Zuko we fished something out of the water, you might want to come see." He whimpered, afraid of that the prince would do if he wasn't pleased with being interrupted from his thoughts.

Zuko sighed, letting go of the railing and following the much smaller man across the deck to the ships infirmary. Zuko was much taller, much broader then a man of 18 should be. Iroh had always told him the reason that he looked so old, and that other officers had always given him respect that they would give to an older man, was because he had been forced to mature so early on that it had made his outward appearance age as well. Zuko brushed the hair out of his eyes, ducking slightly as he stepped in to see almost half his crew gathered around a small cot. He narrowed his eyes. Usually the crew would turn and bow their heads out of respect to the Prince, but instead they seemed to be totally focused on whoever was laying on the bed. He pushed his way through the small group and stopped short as he saw who was laying there. Her long brown hair soaking the pillow, her normally tan skin pale and clammy, her dark, full lips a unnatural shade of blue…

"Call the medic. Tell him to come to my room. I'm taking the girl there."

And with that Zuko scooped Katara up and left behind a room full of very confused sailors.

* * *

Please please please review. Let me know what I can do better ?


	2. Chapter 2

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

to all those reviewers out there i LOVE YOU

your reviews are like crack to me. seriously. i figured with my first story nobody would pay any attention to anything i wrote but to BookWormForLife, darkangel1994, sokkantylee,and koko (your comment made me smile =]) you guys really made my day. Please please please keep reviewing guys not for my sake but for the story I have no idea what direction to take it in. 3 you all

Peace and love babes 3

Zuko stared at her face. The color there was slowly starting to return as the time went by. He lifted her head gently to unwrap the bandages that covered the wound that had been dealt on the side of her skull. He sighed, wondering why she had not woken up yet. After he had taken her to his room and bandaged the wound on her head, the flush to her cheeks had started to return and her sleep turned from one that seemed frighteningly still and coma-like to a feverish sleep. He had calmed then, sure that she would wake soon, but hours later she was still sleeping. Zuko grimaced, thinking of how much work her stupid resistance and her brother had put her through. At least the Avatar was no longer alive to constantly make her heal him. Or at least he wasn't around.

Zuko's thoughts continued to swirl around the girl, and without intending to he reached over her and brushed the hair out of her face, letting his hand linger on her cheek longer than it should have and caress the soft skin of her face. For a moment he thought he saw her long eyelashes flutter, but after a moment he ignored it, the girl would be out for another few hours surely, and after staying awake by her side most of the night Zuko leaned back in his chair, unwilling for a moment to let his hand drift away from her face, and disgruntled sat back, wondering to himself why he had been so reluctant to close his eyes.

Katara thought she was about to explode. The dull throbbing from the side of her head pulsed as she struggled to keep her breathing even, with some unidentified person sitting next to her. Katara could hear the constant breath of someone trying to keep themselves from drifting off. Unaware of where she was and under what terms, Katara thought back to the last waking memories she had. She remembered falling into the water, Sokka's shouting....

surely she couldn't be back on their boat. Someone had bandaged her head, she could tell that much from the way they were unwrapping and rewrapping cloth around her head. In her mind Katara thanked her mysterious savior, this strange person who was taking care of her so well. As she resolved to open her eyes and take a leap of faith that this person was a friend, her entire body stiffened as a coarse, mucled hand stroked her cheek with such tenderness that her breath caught silently and her eyelashes fluttered. She could hear her rescuer sit back in his chair, his hand slowly drifting from her face, seeming to linger there, and settle back with a rustle. Katara waited for the mysterious person's breath to slow to the the steady in and out that showed he was asleep.

Slowly she opened her eyes, feeling them widen as she saw the unmistakable face of her enemy in front of her.

Zuko was not a heavy sleeper. Years of combat had taught him to sleep light, make himself aware for the slightest hint of danger. So when Katara stubbed her toe getting out of bed, his eyes imediately snapped open and met for a moment with those of the Water Bender. Seeing that caution would no longer do her any good, Katara dashed for the door with all the speed she could muster.

With a roar, Zuko sprang up from behind her and sprinted to tackle her from behind. Zuko was much faster and stronger than Katara, and besides, she had been injured gravely only hours before, she was not in any shape to be escaping successfully. Zuko, unintentionally, as he felt them begin to fall wrapped his arm around the girl's tiny waist and pulled her to him so that he would not crush her. Unfortunately this resulted in Katara instead landing directly on top of him, Her wrists encircled by one of his huge hands pulled over his head, the other hand still around her waist. Zuko's eyes widened. Had he called her "girl" only moments ago? Feeling her clearly on top of him this obviously was no better a term to describe her then boy would be for him. As her heart raced and her breath sped, Zuko could feel the rapid movement of her chest rather nicely over his. He smirked as he looked at the blush creeping onto her cheeks, and her lips parted to try to fight with the prince, but whatever words she planned to say died before they reached those lips. His hand, holding both of hers above his head so that she had no possible way of struggling away from him, brought her arms up and placed her body so that her head was above Zuko's, with only a fraction of space for the both of them to breathe from. Combined with Zuko's hand around her torso pinning her to him, Katara was placed directly on top of him, her body almost a mirror of his. It took Zuko a second for Zuko to realize just how compromising a situation the poor girl was in. She had shut her eyes tightly, expecting the worst, not for the prince to slowly push her off of him and offer his hand to help her up. Head hanging, she took it, unbeleiving that this man would be civil to her.

"You are not to try to escape again," he commanded with authority, "or i won't let you off so easily."

Katara could hear the promise in those words, and sighing, moved to the edge of the bed and sat down lightly at it's edge.

"Why am I here?" She asked, "what do you want of me?"

"Without you the rebel force has no powerful benders. They are weak. You were one of the keys to the small success they did have," Zuko said, smirking again, "now without you they should be even easier to destroy."

Katara furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. No powerful benders? But Aang...he must not know that Aang had survived...masking her releif Katare put on a straight face and looked back at Zuko.

"Why then? Why am I still alive?"

It made sense to Katara that he should take her, but why not just let her die of bloodloss in the icy waters, or kill her himself? If she was no longer needed to destroy Aang why would he keep her alive? Not only alive but tending to her wounds and touching her gently, giving her shelter in, from what she could gather from the military cleanness of the room and the slightly charred smell that she had noticed coming from the room, why was she resting in his quarters?

Zuko was not prepaired for the girl to be so wary about why she was there. Anger? That he could handle. Fury from the betrayal that he had so recently done to her, leaving her for Azula in the caverns under Ba Sing Se? That he could deal with. But actual reason, a question that he himself had not yet considered, he was unprepaired for that. Why _had_ he kept her alive? He no longer had a purpose for her, with out the avatar to worry about...Zuko inwardly cringed. That could be it. His secret fear that the teenage monk was had survived might be enough to keep the girl alive...but that wasn't it. It had been something he couldn't yet put his finger on, something in the way she had looked when he first saw her dripping seawater and freezing in his ship's infirmary that had make him want to protect her.

He turned his back to her, now that she had awoken he could go back to his dutys.

"Thank your spirits filth," he hissed back at her, "don't try to convince me otherwise I might just change my mind."

And with that, he left her, curled on his bed wondering how much longer she had, while he spend the remainder of his day, tracking her brother, and without knowing, the Avatar, all the while the memory of those big blue eyes hovering just over his.


	3. Chapter 3

Just to clarify for everyone this is set after the end of season 2 when they had the fight in Ba Sing Se and Azula thinks that Aang is dead and my story picks up on the fire nation ship...sorry for the confusion a THOUSAND thanks to Fanaddict15 for reminding me that i forgot about that minor detail about telling you all when this is set =]

I havent checked my email in a while so for all those reviewers who thought i forgot about you I LOVE YOU

Fanaddict15-THANK YOU THANK you for telling me i didnt clarify. also i dont think ive ever gotten a review that actually understood what a nervious bunch of nerves i contantly am...thank you for your support and for reminding me to RELAX

WolfGirlHowlsAtMoon-I swear to much. Sorry. I promise it was meant lovingly =]

Fire Lady Oren-thank youuuu...i'd like to know where i'm going with it to =]

LadyRin98790-go to the chapter page before this one. there you go =]

ZukoEdward'sAussiegirl-i will indeed thank you so much!

P.O.J.A.-thank you so much and please critique or give as much advice as you can i have no idea what direction to go

mahalkita09-you made me tear up!!! thank you someone saying this was one of the best theyve read on my first try was so so so amazing

mrscherryzuko-thank you dear. i have few reviews as sarcastic as yours =]

Ariel-Keep reviewing?? =]]] *offers cookie

That make 13 reviews on my FIRST chapter i love you guys soooooososososososososo much thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer - if i owned Avatar then Zuko would love me. Seeing as he is a cartoon and that is impossible, him loving Katara would be almost as good.

hello dear readers!

seeing as the last chapter was as steryotypical zutara as can be i figured i should probobly do something actually concerning a plot =] but don't fear i will still give you oodles of cuteness. please please please please review. ps did i mention i have over 700 hits on this story! WOOHOO!!

please please review it would make my day and maybe get another chapter out sooner...with school i forget to write sometimes haha

ps wish me luck on midterms...as you can see from the fact that im writing this instead of studying im working really hard =]

peace and love =]

Katara could find absolutelly nothing to throw at his fat badgermole licking face when the prince arrived back, she had been searching all day and it seemed like the prince had absolutelly nothing but a few changes of clothes, a chamberpot, and the cot that he slept on. As she felt the chamber pot was rather important and getting another on a ship in the middle of the ocean would not be happening anytime soon, using that to kill him seemed rather a waste. And since throwing his clothes at him would do absolutelly nothing, Katara settled for waiting for him to come back so she could attack him herself. Being that close to the gross, disgusting, perverted prince was as undesirable a thing she could imagine, but still, if it meant her freedom all Katara needed was to get past him and into the water, where she was safe and could bend her way to safety.

She heard someone fumbling with the lock on the otherside of the door, and in preparation to attack, Katara crouched down, ready to launch herself at the prince. The door opened inward, and Katara jumped, but the desired effect fell short when she was instead caught by a smiling old man, forgeting her plans of attack, and in compleate shock stared up at the kind face above her.

"Well I knew there must have been some reason for Zuko to be distracted all day but I didn't think it would be that his captive was so very pretty, and apparently so enthusiastic!" The man chuckled, causing Katara to blush at his assumptions.

"Sir you are mistaken I wasn't trying..." She started, trying to explain why she was jumping at the door when she was cut off.

"I would never look at a disgusting lowlife like _that _uncle, besides, lets cut the small talk and just get her out of here as soon as we can."

Katara looked past the old man to where Zuko was leaning against the wall opposite the door, a scowl on his face and it seemed, despite himself, was he...blushing? Katara smiled to herself as she stepped to the side to let this "uncle" pass but instead he gently took her arm and lead her out to the hallway.

"My name is Iroh dear, and while Zuko seems to think it fit to throw you in the barracks with all of our lovely sailors I somehow think it would be a better idea for me to give you a room of your own."

Katara was taken aback by the kindness of this strange man, his age and his kindness reminding her of her gran gran. Katara felt a pang of homesickness run through her at the thought, and smiled at the man, happy for some good company.

Zuko watched as the strange tiny girl gave Iroh a sad smile, and followed him to the next door. In the back of his head Zuko thought he heard something like "and THIS my dear will be your room..." before the rest of Iroh's chatter faded away to the background once more. Zuko shook his head, trying to clear it. Had he heard Iroh correctly? That was Iroh's room that he was leading the girl to!! What did he think he was doing??!!

"Uncle, that is your room what are you doing giving it to her!" Zuko stormed over, furious. "She can sleep with the sailors or in one of our cells, I will not have one of our only rooms be given to a prizoner!!!"

"Well now Zuko I thought I was doing you a favor. I would be more than happy to sleep with our crew and this way young Miss Katara will not have to continue sleeping in your room. Although if that arrangement suited you better I would be glad to let the two of you carry on like that..."

Zuko watched as Katara blushed a deep russet, the red staining all the way down her neck. Zuko started inwardly, what was he doing staring at the girl noticing things like that! He needed to snap himself back to reality. Katara - no, the _prizoner _was the problem right now.

"I would never share my room with that thing Iroh. Besides I put your comfort above hers. Besides the walls are thin, I have to hear you snore all night long who knows what disgusting sounds this watertribe thing makes in her damn sleep."

For the first time Katara spoke up, and the prince was actually impressed by how furious the girl looked.

"First off being anywhere near you isn't exactly my cup of tea either prince," she said bitterly, "and what do you mean "that thing" i am a girl if you couldn't tell yourself. Or are you so disgusting that so other girl has ever come near enough to you for you to have any idea what one is!"

"Of course I know what a girl looks like you stupid little prat I can see can't I? It doesn't take much to tell about you it is obvious my god you have more curves on you than most women twice your age where i come from..." Zuko stopped himself, looking at the pleased expression on Iroh's face and the suprised one on Katara's.

Akwardly Katara shifted her feet, pulling the collar of her dress compleatly closed all the way up her neck. Iroh simply cleared his throat and began rocking back and forth on his heels, humming a fire nation wedding march softly. Katara didn't seem to get the reference, seeing as she showed no further signs of feeling akward, but Zuko, furious, stormed into his room and slammed the door shut violently, opening it a fraction only to thrown a pile of locks out the door, obviously meant for Iroh to use to keep Katara contained.

Compleatly astonished, Katara looked at the door behind which Zuko had just disapeared, up at Iroh, and back at the door. Iroh chuckled happily, and took Katara by the arm showing her into the room.

Before he closed the door to lock her in he turned around and smiled.

"I told you he thought that you are pretty."

Sokka sat by the boy, rubbing the peach fuzz that was growing from his friends head. Taking care of Aang was the only thing that gave him peace now. He knew it would be what Katara wanted, and what she would be doing if she was there.

Since the girl had been flung overboard Aang's improvement, although no longer in critical condition, was drastically slowed by the loss of their master waterbender. Along with that Sokka was not the only one saddened by the loss of the spirited young girl. With her bright eyes and personality Katara had been the life of the crew and the drive to keep going. Sokka had been the only one she allowed to see her struggle and cry, in front of everyone else she had put on a happy face and urged them to move forward.

Sokka thought it was that that he missed the most. Or perhaps it was the way that without asking if he wanted or needed it she always healed him, him and Aang, whenever they got so much as a parchment cut. No, it had to be how when they fought, Katara would always be the one to come over after a half hour and hug him from behind, neither of them needing an apology, simply allowing each other to forget the fight in the first place.

Sokka wiped the stray tear from his eye, refusing to let himself cry as he heard Aang begin to stir. The boy had woken several time, only for a few minutes, and usually he was to delerious to notice anything. Sokka grit his teeth. Especially the fact that his sister was missing.

Missing. He had heard the others speaking about her like one already dead. But Sokka knew better. She was his sister. He would know if she was hurt. He would surely know if she was dead. After all. She had fallen into the water. She was in her element.

He knew that she would be safe now.

Katara looked out the small hole shaped window once again, out to the ocean, her only comfort now. She turned on her heel to pace the length of the room for what seemed to be the thousanth time. Ever since Iroh had locked her in, the day had slowly passed with Katara fuming walking the length of the room. She began to feel herself tire as her inner tirade against the prince slowed. She would have plenty of time to insult him tommorow. Moving over to her cot, Katara laid down beneath the new sheets (she had gotten them changed after thinking of the old man sleeping here every night) and closed her eyes to sleep.

Two hours later Katara tossed and turned awake. A shaft of light was falling directly across her face, right onto her eyes. She groaned. She would never fall asleep like this. Swinging her feet out of bed, Katara walked over to the window to close the curtain so that the glow of the moon off the water would not keep her up, only to remember that she had closed the curtain before going to bed. Walking back over, she saw the flickering light of a candle moving across her pillow, and confused, Katara looked at the wall next to her pillow.

A gap in the wall, just large enough for her to be able to see into the next room through, was placed right next to her pillow, so that if she slept on her side facing the wall she would be looking right through the hole. Slowly climbing to her knees and placing her palms against the wall, Katara lowered her eye to the hole, peering through.

Zuko stood by candle light, sitting down in the chair next to his bed untying his shoes.

Katara gulped. She really shouldn't be doing this. It was not in anyway ladylike of her to spy on a man in his private chambers.

He stood, peeling his shirt over his head of shaggy black hair.

She should really look away now. She was as bad a pervert as Sokka!

He raised his arms, raking his hands through his hair arching his back.

And she certainly shouldn't notice how incredible his abbs looked like that. After all. Who wants a guy with a pale, perfect, terrifyingly strong body.

He blew out his candle, walked over to his window, pulled the curtain open, and stared out at the moon.

The entire room looked silver. She thought him beautiful then, thrown into shadow from the reflected light coming off of the water.

Zuko sighed, walking back to his bed.

Katara covered her mouth to keep from squeaking as he laid down compleatly parallel to her. If there had not been a wall separating them, she would right then be laying down next to the prince. She watched as he slowly drifted to sleep. Never had she seen him look so peaceful or so content as then. In fact, Zuko seemed to smile the most beautiful childlike carefree smile she had ever seen. Katara stared, unsure why, and slowly brought her hand up to rest against the wall as if she could press throught it and feel his on the other side.

They both fell asleep smiling.

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	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: you know it's not mine

A.N. hello beautiful readers – I'm so sorry about the month with nada of this sessy face but my life has gone crazy and I forgot about this totally. Before you begin reading new chapter please please review if you want more please.

Oh and if anyone wants this to be rated M I'm thinking about changing the rating for later in the story (wink wink)

Oh was she ever in trouble. This was becoming a sick habit to her - watching him. Seeing him that night had changed something in her idea of him, and suddenly she was hooked. Waking up after dreaming of him, the way his arms had been so firm when she tried to run away, the calmness of his face when he slept, it all seemed to her so perfect. Katara had even noticed the scars on his back, little lines strewn across obviously left over from a growth spurt that had caught his body off guard. She began to appreciate the little things that he did, like how every man on the ship was given equal right to speak, although she knew from his story that back in the fire nation that would be unheard of. She would watch each night as he looked out the window, even the days that he didn't get back to his room until the middle of the night, and stare out at the water. His gaze was meditative, almost worshiping as he leaned and stared, every night. Katara was not allowed out of her room very often, and when she was it was in the company of armed soldiers, who if they saw anything close to waterbending immediately would land a hard punch between her shoulder blades.

Her only comfort these days was the time that she got to spend with Iroh. The kind old man had become like a grandfather, or a crazy uncle. He sat on the deck with her, perfectly willing to endure being surrounded by his own men if only to give her company. They talked about everything, from life in the fire nation to her time spent with family in the South Pole, to penguin sledding. The one topic they never breached however was that of Zuko. In fact, since the awkward situation in the hallway and Zuko's implication that he thought Katara was pretty she had not heard a word from him. Not even at night. It was a good thing. What with her talking in her sleep if Zuko did as well they would have kept the entire ship up nightly.

There were some signs that he knew she was still there however. The day before this she had woken up to find a cup of tea resting on the floor next to her bed (although if this was from Iroh or Zuko she didn't know). The number of locks on her door was gradually decreasing and once she was even given water to wash herself (that had been an interesting episode – deciding how to wash with her guards there). Once on one of her few times out on deck she had crossed paths with him. It had been so strange, to see him in the sunlight. He looked so angry, so stressed and overworked that it was strange to think that he was the same man whose face she watched relax into a childish innocence each night. She blushed as she passed him; scared as if he looked at her he would know that she watched him and that slowly she had a creeping admiration for him. In truth there was nothing for her to be worried about, he was so involved in whatever it was that he was thinking about it was almost as if he didn't see her pass him.

Katara wished she knew what he was thinking. And at night she watched him look out over the water and more than ever wished for the answer to what was on the beautiful boy's mind.

Wait did she just think beautiful? She was going to have to talk to Iroh about delusions…

* * *

Zuko leaned against the window. It was late, and he needed sleep. However his mind would not stop working, and like every night, he stood looking out over the waves as everything that he dealt with swirled around and out of his mind. His new mission – he had been so excited to go home, but he should have known that he would never get his happiness. Seeing as him and his men had already fallen back to peruse the rebel force that was left over and see if they could pick them off, Azula had taken it upon herself to suggest Zuko simply stay out on the water until they had sought out and destroyed all the remaining opposition. "After all," her letter had written, "from sailing the ocean for so many years you obviously know it better than I, and you have been gone for so long a few more months won't do you any harm." He had seethed when he heard that. She knew how desperate he was to get home. His sister was teasing him, dangling what he wanted most right before him so that he would bend to her every command. And he did. He would do anything to return home.

The rebels had been proving far more difficult than he had originally anticipated, they must have camped somewhere for all his scouting ships had searched nearby and had come up with nothing to track. Zuko had been doing this since he was practically a child, sometimes the trail stopped short. But it always picked up again.

It was also in his late night meditation that he thought about_ her._ She had been spending time with his uncle; therefore she was all he got to hear about from the old man anymore. Her home, her pastimes, Zuko was appalled. Did the man think that he had nothing better to do then learn about the trivial life of some GIRL? However there had been something about the way she had blushed at his accidental confession to thinking her attractive. He only would admit it to himself in the privacy of his own mind, but even if his uncle had not been talking about the girl he was pretty sure she would be on his mind most of the time anyways.

It was the water, he decided.

He had always been drawn to the water. There was something about the gentle waves and the way that they looked at night that calmed him. After spending so long traveling the world by boat it was nearly impossible that he wouldn't be at least somewhat comforted by it. It reminded him of her too. Katara. She was everything like water. Soft and gentile, angry as fire could be when she needed, and beautiful in a way he didn't quite understand, in a way that he wasn't sure he wanted to understand. With running the ship he hadn't seen her since shortly after she had arrived, and although he thought of her often he never had the time or courage to act upon his urges. One morning, after pacing a full half hour after waking up, he had resolved himself to steal her a cup of tea from Iroh and put it near her so that it would be there when she woke up. He didn't quite know what had given him the urge to do this, and through the rest of the day he walked about with a blush, as if every soldier and sailor on the ship would suddenly know that he, Prince Zuko, had gone soft.

Knowing his luck, this day was of course one of the ones when Katara and his Uncle decided to have one of their damned little walks about the deck. He looked down at them walking from a railing on the upper deck, smiling as she animatedly told his uncle some story or another. He chuckled – she talked with her hands, just like his mother. And out of nowhere she was on the ground, one of the several guards who followed her standing behind with his fist still stretched out to the spot where a moment ago it had come into contact with Katara's back. Zuko whirled about in a rage, grabbing the first man with bad enough timing to walk past him, screaming into his face.

"Why did the guard just strike the prisoner? Does this happen often? What is going on?"

Zuko felt like screaming. Not wanting to draw attention lest Katara notice, he hissed into the man's face, spitting with each word. Terrified, the sailor managed to squeak out, "They have to sir, under your orders that if the prisoner attempts to waterbend that she must be stopped sir."

Zuko dropped the man's shirt. So it was his fault.

It always was. He ran down the stairs, anxious to make sure she was alright, and when he passed her she was already on her feet, although something must have been wrong, for she was staring intently at her shoes as though feet were some sort of new and incredible idea to her. He hurried past, trying to look as though he was involved in something so that she would not notice him. He had to have a serious talk with those men about how their prisoner was to be treated.

And he had to think of something to do to make it up to her.

* * *

Katara walked into her room, sighing dejectedly as she heard several locks slide into place. The number had been reduced, but it was still a bit ridiculous. She was injured and any damage she could do would only be caused by the water that was no so far out of her reach.

She was bored. Yes she loved talking to Iroh and learning from him but there was only so much time the man could spend with her – he had a big job on the ship being Zuko's advisor. When he was not around Katara had nothing to do but sit in her room and pace.

And think.

And pace.

And think about Zuko.

Oh yeah. She needed something to do.

And it was then that she saw the book lying on her bed. She picked it up, feeling the worn pages, dog eared from obvious use. Someone had read this book many times and had obviously loved it very much. She didn't recognize the title, so the next time Iroh stopped by her room with food for the night she asked him about it.

Iroh smiled. He knew where that book had come from. "It's a classic earth bender legend," he explained to the wide eyed girl, "about two lovers who are separated by war and prejudice, how did you get it?"

"It was in my room when I got back from our walk before," said Katara, scrutinizing the book as though if she looked hard enough she would be able to tell who it had come from.

"You should read it," Iroh smiled, "it will pass the time. And I know that it must be good, after all it is Zuko's favorite book."

* * *

Zuko took one last look at the note written on the inside cover of the book. He wondered if she would even see it – regardless, she would read it or she wouldn't there was nothing he could do about it now.

-_Katara_

_You must be about ready to jump ship by now, hopefully this makes your time here more bearable. I read this when I need to get away, but recently I have found a new escape. You would appreciate this now more than I do. I hope one day I can talk to you freely – lately thinking of you has kept me going. That and nothing else._

_One day I will tell you who I am. And I hope that day you don't hate me for trying to know you_

_A.N._

REVIEW PLEASE PLEASE


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